


Just Like That

by AshesFall (Cloud_Nine)



Series: Lucky Sevens [4]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-08
Updated: 2016-10-08
Packaged: 2018-08-20 07:34:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8241460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloud_Nine/pseuds/AshesFall
Summary: Kakashi muses. Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke train. Gai, Anko and Genma make an appearance. Or, what happens when a traumatized shinobi freaks out in the middle of the village.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Here we get a fun look at how the village works and we see how the shinobi take care of each other.

“Clear them,” Kakashi said honestly to the medic. “It will be worse if they can’t work off their anger and frustration.” 

The medic in charge of Team 7 looked skeptical but signed off on the release anyway. Kakashi just closed his one visible eye and smiled. He hated dealing with medics who weren’t field medics. The healers, who failed the academy but had good enough chakra control that the village couldn’t risk letting an asset slip back into the civilian pool, knew nothing about how to handle battlefield shinobi. 

Veterans of the Wars and other conflicts, often ran into trouble with the purely hospital bound set of medics, because they spoke different languages. Kakashi knew what his team needed after being held captive. He knew they shouldn’t be separated and he knew they needed to train. The hospital bound set disagreed. That’s why Kakashi was going to seek out Jiraiya and have his sensei’s sensei pull some strings and get Team 7 transferred to a field medic. 

It wasn’t that the hospital bound doctors didn’t care or were stupid, they were just unprepared for the realities of shinobi injuries. Konoha’s active duty military, because that is what shinobi are, had different needs than village bound ninja and civilians. 

Kakashi wished Tsunade’s field medic program had become a reality. The Senju princess knew what it was like to be an active duty shinobi and a medic, she understood the needs of injured shinobi. The village needed more people like her. 

Unfortunately, she had vowed to never return to the village. 

Kakashi snatched a copy of the release form, for the Team’s file, and disappeared in a puff of smoke, just to be spiteful. 

Once removed from the hospital the ninja carefully folded the release form and tucked it away in his sealed pouch and made his way toward the old Uchiha compound where his team had taken up residence. 

It wasn’t unusual for teams to retreat to a safe place after experiencing something like they had. Kakashi had done something similar with Gai after a mission of their went sideways, up near the border of Earth Country. They had spent nearly three months crawling through the dirt on their bellies trying not to alert the team of Iwa shinobi to their location. Kakashi had been captured and held for nearly a week before Gai swooped in and rescued him. Kakashi didn’t like to remember how they had to sneak through River Country with slowly festering wounds and a single kunai between them until it was finally safe to return home. 

After practically kidnapping a field medic, both Kakashi and Gai were smart enough to know a regular hospital bound idiot wasn’t going to survive them right then, they barricaded themselves in Kakashi’s apartment to heal. 

Shinobi were a village’s most dangerous weapons and it was often safer to allow them to heal as they saw fit. Sure there was mandatory counseling and physical checkups, even visits to T&I but the real reason Konoha had some of the most well-adjusted ninjas was because they were allowed to actually heal themselves. 

Kakashi paused and looked at the layers traps and warning mechanisms his team had laid out. Kakashi recognized some Naruto originals and a few that he had taught them during their suicide run. They were all very well done, chūnin and a few lower level jōnin would have trouble getting through this maze. Naruto, if he wanted, could earn a promotion based on his trapping and evasion skills. 

It took only a few minutes for the elite jōnin to make his way past the traps, with each step the level of lethality growing. His precious students learned their lessons well. 

The house was quite, Kakashi wasn’t sure if they stopped having watch shifts yet. It was likely because no one had found him yet. Silently the shinobi moved and found the room where his team was sleeping. Good, they had moved away from having watch shifts. They were becoming comfortable in the village again. 

Kakashi smiled softly under his mask at the sight before him. The three genin laid in a tangled pile of limbs and bodies. Naruto was laid out on his back, arms and legs spread wide like a starfish. Sakura was cuddled up on Naruto’s left side, her right arm tucked under the solitary pillow, likely holding a kunai. Sasuke was stretched out over their legs, his dark head of hair pillowed on Sakura’s thigh with one of Naruto’s legs over Sasuke’s chest. 

It was cute but also efficient. If they needed too, Kakashi knew Naruto would be the first up. They way he was practically on top of Sasuke and Sakura meant they could give their teammate a push to get him moving faster. Sasuke just slightly behind the sunny blonde with Sakura behind the boys with her weapon. His team was adorable and becoming more and more deadly each day. 

Turning away from the door Kakashi headed back into the kitchen. He was hungry. Maybe he would make breakfast before giving his team the good news. 

\--  
Naruto’s eyes snapped open only seconds behind Sasuke and Sakura’s. The smell of warm food had awoken them. Silently they moved together and stopped at the kitchen where they found their sensei sitting at the table reading his book. Three place settings were waiting for them, and Naruto could see a dirty bowl in the sink, likely from Kakashi’s own meal. 

“Did you cook us breakfast sensei?” Naruto asked confused. 

“I was hungry, but it would be rude to just cook for myself in someone else’s home,” Kakashi said blandly. “So yes, I cooked some for you three as well.” 

With a shared shrug they took their spots at the table and waited for Sasuke to check for poison. Kakashi had taught them while they were being held captive. It was a simple jutsu that required very little chakra and only a one handed hand sign, they could all three do it, but Sasuke was better. 

Seconds later the three were eagerly digging into the steamed rice, miso soup, and tamagoyaki. Kakashi continued to read and the team existed in a warm silence. 

When they finished Naruto gathered the dishes and tucked them into the sink. 

“What do you want?” Sasuke asked bluntly. The three of them had seen very little of the squad leader since they returned to the village. Kakashi bounced from meeting to meeting working to get his team reinstated and just generally dealing with the bureaucracy of the village, giving his team time to settle. 

“Maa, cheery as always Sasuke-kun,” Kakashi said with an eye smile. “I come bearing good news! The three of you have been cleared for training again!” 

“Yahoo!” Naruto cheered thrusting his fist in the air. Sakura smiled and even Sasuke smirked. They had been growing restless. “Let’s go now!” Naruto said loudly. “You promised to teach me that move where you broke that guy’s shoulder!” 

“I suppose I did,” Kakashi agreed. “You two coming?” He asked Sakura and Sasuke. 

“As if you could leave us behind,” Sakura said with a sharp smile. 

\-- 

Naruto panted heavily. Kakashi was a slavedriver. The blond genin collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud trying desperately to regain his breath. Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto saw Sakura get sent flying from a strong kick from Kakashi-sensei. 

How strange that a month could change so much. The time in captivity had done wonders for their teamwork. They were closer than ever and always had each other’s backs. It was the suicide run from enemy territory to the village that really made them, though. Days of running without stopping ate away at any stubborn baby fat they retained. Short, brutal battles with their captors meant they had to learn quickly how to fight and kill. 

Kakashi-sensei had taught them what he could, small easy to learn ninjutsu or genjutsu and taijutsu moves but mostly they refined what they knew. 

They had been training all day, the sun was beginning to set. Their sensei had started them running laps around the village, over rooftops, and through the crowded village streets. They ran until their lungs burned and then they fought. 

Three on one, the students attacked their teacher who batted them away like annoying flies. It wasn’t like the bell test, Kakashi no longer pulled his punches for his students. Even with his enhanced healing, Naruto felt like a piece of meat that had been tenderized. After the all out spar, Kakashi had started teaching them the shoulder throw that had completely destroyed one of the shinobi chasing them.

They practiced the move one hundred times each without an opponent before Kakashi-Sensei had Naruto make shadow clones for them to work with. They practiced the move until all three of them had perfected it. Sasuke had gotten it first. 

After that, they sparred again, a free for all this time that slowly became a one on one match. Sakura versus Kakashi-sensei and Naruto versus Sasuke. The spars ended when Sasuke fell to one knee unable to move, Naruto eagerly did the same sucking in air trying to catch his breath. 

Finally, Naruto saw Sakura collapse and even Kakashi-sensei looked winded. 

“We aren’t going to train like this everyday are we?” Naruto forced out. The training would do wonders for their skills, of course, but the blond wasn’t sure he would survive. 

Kakashi gave a breathless laugh and shook his head. “No, we wouldn’t have time,” he admitted. “This was to help get rid of that tension you all are carrying. You’ll feel awful tomorrow physically, but trust me. This was exactly what you needed.” 

Sasuke groaned, making it known just how he felt about that and Naruto agreed. He was too tired to be keyed up. “Let’s get dinner,” Kakashi said pulling Sakura off the ground before moving toward Naruto and Sasuke. 

\--

Dinner had been nice. Dirty, bruised genin were nothing new in the village and everyone ignored them as they enjoyed their meal. Naruto had convinced his team that they needed ramen and while the rest of the team looked annoyed they gave in to his pleading. 

The food was delicious and the company was good. It was a good night for Naruto. Until it happened. 

They had been leaving the ramen stand. Kakashi was going home and the three genins were planning to head back to their safe house when someone roughly shoulder checked Naruto. 

Still sore from training the blond hadn’ expected or seen the hit coming but it didn’t matter. He reacted. 

Naruto grabbed the guy, several inches taller than he was. Muscled. A shinobi with a nasty sneer on his face and just like that, Naruto was no longer in Konoha he was back in the cells. 

Naruto snarled and moved but Kakashi-sensei was faster. The jōnin tore the stranger from Naruto’s grip and tossed him over to Sasuke and Sakura who forced him onto the ground.

Naruto still wanted to fight. Lost in his head, memories of then and now battled for dominance. He wouldn’t go back there, not without a fight. The blond moved. He made it half a step toward the man his teammates were restraining before he found he couldn’t move. 

Kakashi had a grip on the back of Naruto’s neck, like a naughty puppy. In front of Naruto stood a wall of green, with a single hand on Naruto’s forehead. An older shinobi with a senbon in his mouth held Naruto’s left arm and a woman with short purple hair and wearing fishnet had his right. 

“S-sensei?” Naruto asked coming back to himself. 

“Back with us, Naruto?” Kakashi asked softly, no one releasing their holds yet. 

“I think so,” the blond admitted shakily. 

The older shinobi held for a few moments still but eventually pulled back, everyone except Kakashi. 

“Anko, you want to get that idiot from my students? I think he needs a little vacation with T&I,” Kakashi said mildly, not wanting to worry the civilians that had stopped to watch the drama. 

Anko, the woman, scowled and turned a dangerous look on the idiot being restrained by the genin. “It would be my pleasure,” she purred snatching him up and a smile. 

Free of their burden Sakura and Sasuke rushed to their teammate. “Naruto!” Sakura shouted looking over her teammate to make sure he hadn’t been harmed. 

“What the hell was that, dope?” Sasuke asked his eyes flashing red. 

“I don’t know,” Naruto said leaning into Kakashi-sensei’s hold. “I just lost it.” 

“Happens to the best of us, kid,” the shinobi with the senbon in his mouth said. 

“Genma is correct, Kakashi’s most youthful student!” The strange man in green that had been in front of Naruto said. “Becoming lost in your memories after such an ordeal is quite normal.” 

“But I could have hurt someone!” Naruto said worriedly. 

Anko snorted and shook her head. She had the man, low-level shinobi probably a genin corps member, tied up and on his feet. “That wouldn’t happen gaki. If we hadn’t stopped you the ANBU would have.” 

“ANBU?” Sakura said looking around for the members of the shadow corp. 

“There,” Kakashi-sensei said jerking his head to the shinobi outfitted in black and white armor with a white mask that resembled a cat. The shadow ops member was standing casually on the branches of one of the nearby trees. It was as if he had been waiting for Kakashi to draw attention to him. Maybe he had. 

Faster than the genin could blink the ANBU was gone. 

“So I wouldn’t have hurt anyone?” Naruto asked softly. 

Kakashi smiled behind his mask and dropped his free hand on Naruto’s soft spiky blond hair. “We wouldn’t have let you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Like my fic? Wanna talk to me about it?? Find me on discord! https://discord.gg/RAbVVjQ


End file.
